New Roulette
Kansas City's The Sexy Accident plays mercurial pop of brains and heart "driven by catchy melodies and smart, real-life lyric writing." (The Big Takeover) When the pandemic struck in 2020, songwriter and bandleader Jesse Kates built a home studio and began producing New Roulette remotely.
Josh Williams performed and recorded Ramone Hall's drum parts. Ryan Leip flew in guitars for Jesse to re-amp. Jamie Pratt sang at her father's suburban home and Mack McKinney played bass from Jesse's back yard. For more Kansas City flavor, New Roulette's lead track, I'm Feeling Dancy, features Sisterbot and the EP includes a cover of Wind Flirter by True Lions. New Roulette comprises six tracks and released on 23 April 2022.
Rabarbaro (2020)
The band's seventh long-player, Rabarbaro, released on 14 April 2020 during the year of the band’s fifteenth anniversary.Produced, engineered and mixed by longtime collaborator and pacific northwest legend Steve Fisk (Car Seat Headrest, Low, Unwound, Nirvana, Pigeonhed) in Kansas City and Tacoma, Rabarbaro comprises eleven of songwriter Jesse Kates’ most dark, dynamic and sensual songs, living up to the intensity of the album’s namesake adult beverage: a bittersweet, intoxicating (30% ABV) variety of Italian amaro distilled from Chinese rhubarb with zest and cardamom.
Champagne Babycakes (2016)
Champagne Babycakes is the world’s first album released as a card game. Each copy of Champagne Babycakes includes a complete game deck of 54 cards illustrated by Gavin Snider and twelve songs written by Sexy Accident bandleader Jesse Kates. Champagne Babycakes was produced by Steve Fisk
The songs of Champagne Babycakes are hefty yet compact, like a deck of cards, and reflect Kates’ mainstay themes of romance and family life. Sonically, the album echoes and amplifies features of The Sexy Accident’s prior work, including the groove of Ninja Ninja Fight Darth Vader, the layering of Lavender 3, the squall of Mantoloking, and the dynamics of Kinda Like Fireworks.
Lavender 3 (2013)
Like Champagne Babycakes, The Sexy Accident’s fifth release isn’t a typical record. To deliver tactile pleasure with the ease of downloads, the band created a pop album as a hardback book.
Lavender 3 is a nine-inch square, 48-page, silver cloth-covered, smythe-sewn, silk-screened book brimming with lyrics, paintings, illustrations, interviews and commentary, including works by Blue Gallery painter Bernal Koehrsen and poet Jim Daniels.
Lavender 3 comprises twelve love songs marinated in strings, keyboards and alternate-tuned guitars. The tracks guest star Laurel Parks and Sascha Groschang of string ensemble The Wires, and Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger, among others.
Origins
In 2005, after years of spinning wordless tales with Pittsburgh, PA-based instrumental band Whitford, Jesse Kates decided to sing. Jesse had recently relocated to Kansas City for a day job and needed co-conspirators. A search of nearby cubicles revealed Dan Weller, the bass-playing spouse of a market researcher, and Craig used his list to find Billy Brown, the band's first drummer.
Musicians assembled, Jesse began to write. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's Creative Writing program, Jesse remains influenced by a mantra of the faculty - have the courage to be clear - to this day. As the only permanent band member, The Sexy Accident remains unavoidably Jesse-centric, yet the sonics transform from album to album, showcasing the strengths of each lineup.
Key Lineups
| when | who | pic |
| now | Jesse Kates, Ramone Hall, Ryan Leip, Mack McKinney, Rachel Jaggard | view |
| 2020 | Jesse Kates, Ramone Hall, Jamie Pratt, Ryan Leip, Mack McKinney | view |
| 2015 | Jesse Kates, Ramone Hall, Jamie Pratt, Dan Diamond | |
| 2013 | Jesse Kates, Daniel Torrence, Camry Ivory, Mark Hamblin, Kristin Smith | view |
| 2010 | Jesse Kates, Daniel Torrence, Camry Ivory, Mark Hamblin | |
| 2009 | Jesse Kates, Daniel Torrence, Chad Toney, Pat Padgett | view |
| 2007 | Jesse Kates, Daniel Torrence, Pat Fent | view |
| 2005 | Jesse Kates, Billy Brown, Dan Weller | view |
